(Edited Fair Grounds report)

NEW ORLEANS, La. Rachel Alexandra, the superstar filly that defeated male horses three times in 2009 en route to being named Horse of the Year, will “school” in the paddock before and during Saturday’s seventh race, beginning at about 3:20 p.m.

Rachel Alexandra, racing legend, scheduled to be the first reigning Horse of the Year to race at Fair Grounds since the great Whirlaway in 1942 when she makes here 2010 debut in next Saturday’s $200,000 New Orleans Ladies.

Rachel Alexandra established herself as one of the all-time great fillies last year with historic wins in the Grade I Kentucky Oaks and Grade I Preakness, as well as six other stakes races, including the Grade II Fair Grounds Oaks. Her three Grade I victories against male horses—in the Preakness, the Haskell Invitational and the Woodward—helped to establish a new standard for excellence by a female racehorse in the modern era.

In racing parlance, “schooling” refers to the process meant to familiarize a horse with the surroundings he or she will encounter on race day. Rachel Alexandra will come to the paddock with the horses in the seventh race and will stand in a stall just as she will next Saturday, remaining there while the horses in the race head to the track. She also will be led around the walking ring before leaving the paddock following the seventh race.